Run, despite and because life is complicated.

cycling

Over the last year, I’ve had to restart my running four times. It’s been very frustrating. I know everyone gets injured eventually. It’s just part of running. I skated by without injury for years and years and then it caught up to me, hamstring, rolling left ankle, and rolling my right ankle. I tried so hard to reframe and find the positive in restarting. Often, it was difficult to remain positive, especially, when you’re running better than ever and then you watch and feel all the gains you’ve made slip away.

I know many runners who have experienced injuries of all levels and never returned to running. Some picked up another sport and others just hit a wall in the area of physical fitness. There were days where I considered walking away (cause I sure as shit couldn’t run) and doing something else.

I thought maybe the universe was telling me it was time to switch to triathlons. I know, I know it’s like sacrilegious, but if I’m being totally honest that’s where I was at on some days.

How did I keep starting over? I told myself you started once and look what you achieved. You can start again. You’re not a quitter. You don’t quit during 100 milers and you’re not quitting now. I told myself it was the ultimate endurance event and I had to stay focused.

I also had a lot of support from family who reminded me I could get back to where I had been and reassured me that it would come back faster than gaining it in the first instance because the foundation was there.

This fourth time of restarting is for an amazing reason, being pregnant, but it’s still been difficult to come to terms with it and I’m sure part of that is the three other restarts and the future restart I know will happen.

Running as always is one of the best metaphors for life and teaches life lessons we often don’t learn the first go around or resist when presented in other areas. Restarting is another wonderful example of this.

I’ve restarted many times in my life, but my most epic restart was when I was 17. I had just overcome an addiction, returned to high school, recovered from a rape, and was raising my first son. This is a picture of me then. If you are needing some extra inspiration or just love stories of hope and determination, I’ve linked a short story published about my restart on Epoch Times. Here

Whenever we strain or sprain a muscle, we immediately start applying R.I.C.E (rest, ice, compression, and elevation), but is that the right thing to do?

The RICE and PRICE (protection, ice, compression, and elevation) practice came from good old medical guess work and reasoning more than actual research studies. The new studies are showing that these regimens are not the best way to speed your way back to doing what you love to do.

Let’s start with the protection and rest portion. There was a study completed in 1994 by Oregon Health and Science University. The study took 82 people with sprained ankles and divided them into two groups one group had their ankle immobilized for 10 days and then began exercises to increase mobility. The other group wrapped their ankle for two days and then began the same program. The second group was back to doing their thing much faster: 57% back to it, where the immobilization group was only at 13%.

Complete rest is not the best option for many sprains, but be smart. If you can walk on it, take it easy, but don’t completely stop. Let pain be your guide. If the pain gets worse stop. If the pain is higher than a 2.5 on a one to five scale tone it down so it’s only a two. You may have to give it 48-72 hours before you can begin, but doing some activity is better than doing nothing. It’s called active rest.

Okay so the total rest or complete protection of the joint isn’t a good thing. What about the ICE? There’s no research that shows it actually reduces swelling. It only delays it. It is a good pain reliever and the theory was that if there is less pain you’re going to be able to move it sooner. The problem is it is delaying recovery by delaying the inevitable swelling. It also delays a hormone called IGF-1, which is key in repairing damaged tissues.

And compression? Well, there’s not research, but the doctors know it reduces swelling and if swelling is down, you are able to move your joint better and sooner. Elevation to reduce swelling? Um no. It may reduce it while it’s elevated, but as soon as you put it down the swelling returns.

So what do we do? A.R.I.T.A.: active rest is the answer. Implement active rest. Start with some basic mobility exercises while keeping your pain level down. It doesn’t have to be pain free. Do things that keep the joint mobile but don’t hurt to do. Sometimes it’s the side to side strain that causes pain but forward and back is fine.

You can’t let the muscles sit idle because they tighten up and atrophy. Scar tissue builds up which will then impact the movement of tendons and muscles for a long time if not forever. Continuing motion of the joint/muscle ensures the healing process will begin and be effective.

Diaphragm cramp or side stitches, call it what you like it’s unpleasant. There are only theories as to why you get side stitches when you are running (or doing other sports activities). The most widely held belief is a muscle spasm of the diaphragm and/or its supporting ligaments.

Your diaphragm muscle assists you with breathing while you are running and because your need for oxygen increases when you’re running, your diaphragm works harder. The thought is that it gets tired and/or the surrounding tissues get tired and then the muscle spasms.

The second theory is improper breathing (oh yeah, you can breathe the wrong way). This theory ends the same as the above, a fatigued diaphragm and surrounding muscles which leads to spasms. The difference is breathing too shallow. Shallow breathing means your muscles don’t get enough oxygen and then get tired easier.

So what’s the proper way to breath when you are running? Deep with your belly not shallow into your chest. Breathing deep into your belly opens blood vessels found deep in your lungs and fills your blood with more oxygen. Most people breath with their chest, only filling two thirds of their lungs. To tell if you are belly breathing, lay on your back and lay your hand on your stomach. If your hand rises and falls you’re belly breathing. Most of us have to make a conscious effort to belly breath.

The third theory is we don’t time our breathing with our foot falls properly. When you are running try inhaling for three steps (right, left, right) and then exhale for two steps (left, right). This five-step rhythm will alternate your exhale from your right foot plant to your left. You have to think about it for a while when you’re first learning to do it, but it will reduce your side stitches. Practice it for a few minutes every mile and pretty soon it will become automatic. If you are climbing a hill or doing speed work, change it to a 2:1 ration for inhalation and exhalation.

The fourth theory is poor running posture, aka running with your shoulders rounded and your upper body bent forward. One belief is that hunching over like that compromises nerves in the abdominal area and then they become irritated and trigger the pain you feel and call side stitches. The other belief is that the hunching puts more weight on your diaphragm which causes it to spasm and get tired.

The final theory is dehydration. I’m not going to go into this one. We all know it’s critical to hydrate before, during and after our runs. We know we have to take in electrolytes if we’re running for more than about 60-90 minutes (depending on pace and temperature outside: faster and hotter=more electrolytes).

Runners like numbers. We want to know how far we’ve gone, how fast we were, how much we climbed/descended, what our heart rate was and on and on. As much as we love numbers, it’s also important to keep things in perspective and enjoy the run for the run, so leave your fun toys at home once in a while and just run.

If you’ve been in a sports store or a running store recently, I’m sure you’ve seen the numerous watches that track every bodily function and your place on the earth at each moment. There are a lot of options out there. When you are in the market I would suggest doing some research. Here are some starting points:

Keeping It Simple

Mio Slice ($100): this little guy tracks your heart rate and makes recommendations about how much activity you should be doing each day. It’s tracking is very accurate. You can track steps, distance, calories burned, and sleep. It’s compatible with iphones and android. Battery life is five days.

Polar M200 ($120-150): tracks heart rate, speed, distance, and route. connects with an app you can download on your phone. It has a running program adjustable to your needs. Battery life is 6 hours in GPS mode.

Polar M400 ($130): does everything the M200 does plus tracks altitude, calories, steps and sleep quality. It’s waterproof to be used in all weather conditions. it has a bigger numbers on the display and it’s battery life is 8 hours in GPS mode.

Going Big

Garmin Fenix 5S ($700): this guy comes in three sizes in case you have smaller wrists. It is a multisport tracker with a barometric altimeter, magnetic compass and wrist band heart rate monitor. It measures stride, cadence, ground contact time, bounce, and estimates your VO2 Max. Battery life 24 hours in GPS mode

Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR ($500): a multisport trainer, waterproof up to 100m. It has 80 pre-set modes and sport specific metrics. It tracks your basics such as location, pace, heart rate, speed, altitude. Battery life 12 hours in GPS mode (other models have longer battery life if needed such as the spartan ultra 26 hours).

Samsung Gear S3 Frontier ($300)

This one runs on 4G LTE, bluetooth and Wi-fi so you can take calls and respond to text messages without your phone nearby. It’s compatible with android and IOS. It tracks your altitude distance, location, pace, heart rate and more. It’s water, dust, and extreme temperature resistant. Batter life up to three days with mixed use and screen set to turn on/off automatically

Wondering why your knees, ankles, wrists or fingers snap, crackle, and pop? The jury is out on the definitive reason why this occurs and is unlikely to come in with a verdict any time soon. One reason is the ligaments are stretching over a bone and slipping back in place. Second is the compression of nitrogen bubbles in the spaces of the joins and then the refilling of the joint with synovial fluid, which lubricates your joints. A third reason they could be popping is due to friction between the muscle/tendons and the bone. Tight muscles/tendons make this more likely to happen. A fourth reason is called joint fixation. This is when the bones of a joint become stuck together due to suction and when the seal is broken you hear a pop. You can tell the difference between friction and fixation by the reoccurrence rate of the popping. Fixation takes time to set up, so it won’t repeat with every bend of the joint. Friction on the other hand will repeat each time you bend the joint.

Everyone has popping joints at one point in their life or another. In most cases, there is enough slack in our tendons and muscles that no harm is done. Although the sound of it can be irritating or concerning, there is nothing to worry about injury wise. You’re not causing damage and it doesn’t mean that there’s an injury. You should be concerned about a pop is if it causes pain or swelling because it can indicate a tearing or rupture of a tendon or even a fracture of a bone. You will likely know if it could be something like this because there will be an event that causes it. If there is swelling and pain try rest, ice, compress and elevate. If that doesn’t help after three or four days or if the pain is serious(painful to use for normal daily activities) and there is significant bruising, see your doctor.

If the popping is driving you crazy, there are some things you can do to try to reduce or banish the popping. First, try some stretching of the tendons and muscles around the area where the popping is occurring. Stretching should be done when the muscles are warm and not to the point of pain only tightness. Be gentle with yourself. Hold a stretch for 20-30 second and repeat the stretch 2-3 times. Try some yoga. Yoga not only stretches those muscles and tendons, but can be quiet effective at building balance and strength.

Staying active will also reduce the popping and snapping. You don’t need to sit around because you’re all creaky and poppy (I think snappy is a better way to describe it-just more positive). Continuing to stay active actually increases the lubrication of your joints. So you can tell all those nay sayers who ask “Isn’t running bad for your knees?” No it’s not. As a matter of fact, it’s good for them. You can direct them to this article or just tell them to take five minutes and google it on their smart phone.

Cracking your joints or a ongoing unintentional popping of your joints won’t cause your joints to get bigger and it doesn’t cause arthritis.

I’m fit right? Many people who are physically fit believe they can cross over into another sport and their fitness should translate. This may be true to some extend, but if the sports are different enough, things do not translate.

There are multiple aspect of fitness that make you a strong runner (or strong any other type of athlete. Aerobic fitness is the stimulation and strengthening of the heart and lungs, which improves the bodies ability to transform oxygen you breath in to energy your muscles can use. Having enough oxygen throughout your body is critical to participating in endurance events, okay and life.

Aerobic fitness is important but it’s not enough if you want to be a strong athlete in a particular sport. Strength in the muscles specific to the sport does not always crossover and complete crossover is pretty much impossible. You can compare muscle development between athletes of different sports to see proof, unless they make special effort to achieve more balanced strength. Runners have more balanced development throughout the legs. Sometimes the calves and quads can be more developed. Cyclists typically have larger quads, specifically the one on the outside. Swimmers have larger shoulders and arms. Those who play team sports requiring a lot of lateral movement are going to have stronger supporting muscles in the legs and core.

Running uses every muscle in your body as to most other sports. The difference is in the role each plays and the level of reliance on that particular muscle group. The major muscles of the legs are the most used in running. There are smaller, support, muscles in the legs used as well. At times these support muscles are recruited to pull more of the load than normal when the big boys become fatigued or injured. Even within the running community there are going to be differences in leg development because of the training each runner does.

Muscles and tendons remember. Neuro-pathways or muscle memory develops with experience. Your body becomes more efficient in form. When you repeat a motion over and over again, it becomes ingrained and you don’t have to put much, if any, thought into it. The less you have to think about each movement the faster you will become. The reduced attention required allows you to focus on one aspect of your body and make tweaks here and there to improve your form reducing injury and energy consumption. For runners, leg turn over, cadence, and stride length are all improved by building neuro-pathways. In contrast, soccer and American football players have unmatched agility (foot movement) because they work on it day in and day out.

The range of motion required by your muscles is different for different sports and on the other side the muscles and tendons which tend to tighten up are different depending on your sport. Flexibility in the hamstrings and hip flexors is important for running because they control the movement of your leg swing. Flexibility in those muscles is not as important for swimming or rowing.

Bottom line here is don’t get frustrated when you really struggle when cross training or picking up another sport. Fitness encompasses many aspects and unless you make an effort to maintain balance across these you’re not going to be at the same level in each sport. Individual strengths also separate athletes in the same sports.

Everyone knows there is a risk of developing skin cancers by exposing unprotected skin to the sun and that risk increases depending on how long you’re in the sun and when. Where you live also increases or decreases your risk.

Factors such as time of day latitude, altitude, and time of year change the amount of UV’s you’re exposed too. The EPA’s sunwise app predicts UV levels based on these factors. Other personal risk factors include, facial cleansers, fair skin, blue eyes, red hair, and freckles.

Every year companies review the Effectiveness of and harm caused by sunscreens. Prior to 2014, there were no regulations on sunscreen effectiveness, ingredients, or claims of preventing skin cancers.

In 2011, after 4 years of multiple articles being published about the harmful ingredients and lack of actual protection, standards were created by the FDA. In 2014, testing standards were implemented. Although, the US standards are lower than Europe’s. Now in the US, companies can no longer use the claim that their sunscreen “prevents skin cancers.”

Ongoing air pollution has increased our risk of skin cancers. Cases have increased by 35% over the last 30 years. The FDA also, now, requires sunscreen to screen both UVA and UVB rays. But about half of products do not screen them equally and they could not be sold in Europe.

Most sunscreen companies have stopped putting a harmful type of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, in its product. This ingredient may increase the speed of developing melanoma. However, consumers should still check for it-14% contained it in 2017.

Higher SPF claims do not mean more screening. SPF over 50 is misleading and does not mean more protection. Most countries cap the SPF claim at 50. The FDA is drafting a regulation to address this issue.

Nor are the claims of sweatproof, waterproof, or sunblock entirely accurate and thus no longer allowed to be printed on the screens. A skin cancer warning is required.

Spray on sunscreen are not as effective as creams/lotions. They don’t go on evenly or thick enough. There is a danger of inhalation as well.

Sunscreens need to be reapplied every two hours and sunscreen is not enough. If you’re going to be in the sun for long periods of time or between 10 am and 4 pm wear UV protective clothing, a hat and sunglasses.

Indoor tanning is also a big no-no. It increases your risk of all types of skin cancer including melanoma, which is the most dangerous. It’s illegal for someone under the age of 18 to use indoor tanning beds in most countries, including the US. It’s like smoking when you know the risks for cancer and other health problems. You are actually more likely to get skin cancer from indoor tanning than you are lung cancer from smoking (although it may cause other serious health/lung issues).